For those of you not familiar with Hulu I’ll provide a little background - Hulu was founded in March 2007 by NBC and New Corps as a platform for people to find and enjoy premium video content. This includes TV shows, movies, sports, and popular clips.  The content comes from over 100 providers including FOX, NBC, MGM, Sony Pictures, and Warner Bros (unfortunately, but not surprisingly, ABC and CBS are not currently on the roster). As far as usability goes, the site is great! It’s very easy to use, you don’t have to download anything, and they have this great tool that allows you to clip footage and share it with friends.

 

They run an ad supported model so everything is free and legal.  They’re testing out different models and often giving users a choice in the advertising content they see, for example if Nissan is sponsoring a show you may be able to choose between ads for an Altima, Rogue, or Titan. Some viewers are also given the opportunity to watch a two minute ad prior to a movie or show and then watch their video commercial free. Interesting.  I’m going to guess that they’re testing all kinds of user behavior – is a user more likely to click through to an advertisers site if they watch a two minute ad or a thirty second spot? How does their behavior change if we let the users pick the ad being served? This testing will pay off and ultimately drive their sales prices. I will say, however, that I’m a little concerned with their ability to strategically place ads. I recently became a fan of Lipstick Jungle (guilty!) and must have seen five plus episodes that were sponsored by Hungry-Man. Sorry Hungry-Man, but I’m NEVER going to buy your product….ever. You’d be much better off sponsoring My Name is Earl.

 

When Hulu was first announced people thought it was absurd. No way could two major media companies create a content site that people would actually want to use. The name was even more ridiculous than the venture. Hulu? The blogger community had a field day.  It means “snoring” in Chinese, one blogger declared. “Perhaps they should have just stuck with Clown Co,” Tech Crunch reported. Harsh! The reality? Well, Two months after launch, Hulu edged ahead of ESPN.com to become one of comScore’s top 10 US video sites and within the first three months the site had 3.3 million users and delivered more than 100 million streams. Take that bloggers! Wait, what’s that? You now love Hulu? It’s no surprise that bloggers who had ridiculed it from the start were now singing its praises. Tech Crunch readers voted it the best video start up of 2007 and it made this years Digital Hotlist alongside Google, Facebook, and the iPhone.

 

My verdict? Hulu is the new way to watch TV. I’ve canceled my cable (honestly) which will save me around $850/year and now watch all my TV streaming over the internet, the cost? Nothing. It’s brilliant!